360 Degree Spherical Panoramas

[billyh42]

Hi all

Here are some recent 360 Degree Spherical Panoramas featuring a variety of aircraft.

What do you think?

Click on the link BELOW the photos to view the panoramas!

To interact with the panoramas "left click", hold and drag in the required direction. You can look around 360 degrees and up & down 180 degrees!

billyh42

Avro Lancaster MkVII NX611 "Just Jane" - RAF East Kirby - 17th October 2007
http://www.musicpro.demon.co.uk/East_Kirby/East_Kirby_Pre_01.html

Diamond DA40 G-CDEJ - Cumbernauld Airport - 14th October 2007
http://www.musicpro.co.uk/EGPG_Test/G-CDEJ_01_Pre.html

PITTS S1 G-FOLY - Cumbernauld Airport - 14th October 2007
http://www.musicpro.co.uk/EGPG_Test/G-FOLY_Pre.html

Cumbernauld Airport (EGPG) Tower - 14th October 2007
http://www.musicpro.co.uk/EGPG_Test/Tower_Pre.html

BBMF Hangar - RAF Coningsby - 17th October 2007
http://www.musicpro.co.uk/BBMF_Test/BBMF_Pre_02.html

 

[Hacker]

Very, very good. I particularly like the last one inside the hangar, how do you put them together? I presume it is a bit of specialist software.

 

[billyh42]

how do you put them together? I presume it is a bit of specialist software.

These are all 6 shots (5 horizontal and 1 vertical) stitched together. I use software called PTGui but you can do it with most photo editing packages nowadays.

The final panoramic movie is created with software called Pano2QTVR which creates the final movie from a 2:1 image (I use 6000 pixels x 3000 pixels).

billyh42

 

[djbolf]

Very nice , the sky on the 2nd one is good , i'd like to see some HDR panoramics , that would be quirky.

 

[Hacker]

These are all 6 shots (5 horizontal and 1 vertical) stitched together. I use software called PTGui but you can do it with most photo editing packages nowadays.

The final panoramic movie is created with software called Pano2QTVR which creates the final movie from a 2:1 image (I use 6000 pixels x 3000 pixels).

billyh42

Thanks for that, I'm very impressed with these. The pics above don't do them justice, you really need to click on the links to see them properly.

 

[billyh42]

Very nice , the sky on the 2nd one is good , i'd like to see some HDR panoramics , that would be quirky.

Skies (and exposure in general) are probably the thing that causes the most problems with this type of shot!

To cut down on the number of shots needed I'm currently using a Sigma 8mm lens which lets me get away with around 6 shots (5 horizontal and 1 vertical). However the 180 degree field of view of the Sigma 8mm makes it a nightmare to get a proper exposure reading as it takes in everything from your feet to the sky.

If you're using a tripod and there is no movement in the shot, you can do the HDR thing and take a series of bracketed exposures. Usually with the outside shots where I can get a reasonable shutter speed I handhold or use a monopod but this isn't accurate enough to merge HDR bracketed shots.

For me the HDR thing adds a surreal feel to the image that works really well for interior shots with windows but makes any outdoor shots look false with its unnatural decrease in overall contrast.

But when there is movement in the shot, like the Lancaster at East Kirby, where there are people walking all around, then you have to go for a compromise with the exposure as each shot has the same people in different positions in the shot and involves lots of editing to remove bits of arms and legs etc, so you can't really bracket.

I tend to err on the side of underexposure to make sure that the sky isn't burnt out and then correct the shadow detail later.

billyh42

 

[billyh42]

Link for the panorama of the Lancaster at East Kirby seems to be playing up today!

The link itself IS fine but this panorama is hosted on Demon Internet servers and the problem appears to be at THEIR end.

If you can't get the pano to load just try again later as the problem seems to be intermittent.

All the other panos are hosted on my servers and are working OK!

Billy

 

[billyh42]

Demon Internet appear to have sorted out their server problems and the Lancaster at East Kirby link is working properly again.

 

[Jimmy_Lemon]

very cool shots! Gonna have to try some panoramaes with my 10-20. Thanks for the link to the software will have a play with that

 

[CarlOgden]

To interact with the panoramas "left click", hold and drag in the required direction. You can look around 360 degrees and up & down 180 degrees!

I now feel quite sick with all that spinning around

Good effects though, well done!

Carl.

 

[billyh42]

Good effects though, well done!

Thanks Carl

 

[billyh42]

Sorry folks, the link to the 360 Degree Spherical Panorama of the BBMF Hangar has now changed to:- http://www.musicpro.co.uk/sites/bbmf/pages/bbmf_pano_02.html

The board won't let me edit the original post for some reason, hence the update above!

Thanks to all those who let me know that the original link wasn't working!

This is because some of my panoramas have now been moved over to my new website.

The 360 Degree Spherical Panoramas will now run full-screen as well as in a window.

This is due to the panoramas now being presented in a Java/Flash format which means that the previous method of running a script to chose between QuickTime or Flash in no longer used.

The file size remains the same and there is no longer any need to present both a QuickTime version and a Flash version of the same panorama.

This method should enable everyone to view the panoramas properly without having to rely on having any particular software or plugin installed for their browsers as the Java Player is a "client-side" player - i.e. it is installed on my server but is accessed automatically when anyone views the panoramas.

There are now also some very simple (and colourful) on screen controls to enable the viewer to chose between window and full-screen views, a play/pause button and a rotation direction button.

I would be interested in any comments as to how you think this compares to the old method.

Thanks

Billy Hepburn

www.elevation360.com

 

[WanderingMind]

These are brilliant Billy, great work

The newer version doesn't seem as smooth when you rotate, not sure if quicktime versions have some anti aliasing. If I go full screen on the new one it flashes on my monitor, could be resolution as I'm on widescreen.

 

[billyh42]

The newer version doesn't seem as smooth when you rotate, not sure if quicktime versions have some anti aliasing. If I go full screen on the new one it flashes on my monitor, could be resolution as I'm on widescreen.

Thanks for the feedback!

I've experienced the flashing effect as well - although only on a TFT or LCD monitor. It doesn't seem to happen (so far) on the old CRT monitors.

I have a feeling its something to do with Java/Flash and the way it displays on screen.

The new method is "client side", that is, the Java/Flash player is on my server and is downloaded to the viewers browser at the same time as the movie and the flashing or jerkiness seems to disappear if the page is refreshed.

However, I'm still trying to find a suitable compromise between file size and image quality. This new version seems to be quite good for that as the old method using QuickTime needed at least a 6MB movie file to be usable at full screen resolutions. These newer versions are only about 0.5MB in size!

Billy

 

[billyh42]

The newer version doesn't seem as smooth when you rotate, not sure if quicktime versions have some anti aliasing. If I go full screen on the new one it flashes on my monitor, could be resolution as I'm on widescreen.

Hi again

It would appear that the "flashing" and "stuttering" are caused by older versions of Java and/or Flash.

If the Java and Flash are updated to the latest versions then these problems should disappear.

Download the latest Java here:- Latest Java Update

Download the latest Flash here:- Latest Adobe Flash

I have also made a temporary home page for the new website and some of the other panoramas can be viewed by clicking here:- elevation360.com

Although this is a temporary page, it will remain the main page, so if you bookmark this page now then it will ensure that you are always viewing the main page of the site as the content evolves. All links will remain intact and you will always be viewing the most up to date version of the home page.

The site should hopefully go live around the end of February 2008!

billyh42